What concepts of General Chemistry are important in Physics?

relativitydude

I am taking General Chemistry right now, what parts of chemistry are important in the last two years of a physics BS degree?

dextercioby

Hopefully i'm not offending our chemists on the forums,but the unique answer is:NONE.Moreover,fundamental chemistry is pure physics (quantum mechanics to be exact).I've always wondered myself why they teach a semester of General Chemistry at the phyiscs schools.Probably they want to show us that quantum mechanics and mathematics are useful for other domains as well.

Daniel.

relativitydude

Stuff like lewis structures, electron configurations, geometry, chemical reactions, etc have no future use for me?

dextercioby

1.Lewis structure:not a chance.
2.Electron configurations:yep,u'll discuss them in the atom phyiscs course,bu it's good to know them in advance.
3.Geometry of molecules:no.Maybe a course (if u have) on symmetries will discuss symmetry groups for crystals and probaly molecules.But again,i stress that the teacher will assume no knowledge whatsoever and he should take it from zero.
4.Chemical reactions:not a chance.

Daniel.

derekmohammed

Apperanty Chem 201/203 (General Chem) are courses not ment to inform but are ment to challenge students. It is ment to seperate the strong students and the weaker students. This is what my prof says anyway...

relativitydude

So Im taking chemistry for a general science information?

spacetime

I've just taken a general chemistry course and the topics important for physics seem to be thermodynamics, the molecular structure and the structure of solids. We had a lot of quantum chemistry and that will certainly be useful in physics courses.

spacetime
www.geocities.com/physics_all/

dextercioby

Apparently so.Dont't worry,if u're having a good thermo teacher,a good teacher on solid state and a good one on atom and molecule physics,everything's gonna be just fine... I wouldn't worry,if i were u.I'd just pass the damn exam,without stressing my nervs too much.


Daniel.

relativitydude

I enjoyed chemistry one, it was enlightening. I learned alot.

I already took the final and bombed it. Really bombed it bad. Just by pure bad luck, the test of twelve questions was on my worst areas. I was hoping for physics type questions (thermodynamics, light questions, etc) I couldve gotten a B+ if I didnt screw up, now a C+ and possibly a B- if Im lucky.

My areas that Im horrible are at naming and determing the types of chemical reactions. It all clouds up in my mind. It didnt help I started to freak out and started to make tons of silly mistakes (balancing, etc)

Do you know of any sources where I can be helped in those areas?

Astronuc

Courses in Physical Chemistry and related areas would seem appropriate. I would think that General Chemistry would be a course taken during the first two years of a baccalaureate program in Physics or other science.

Physicists and chemists usually specialize in specific areas, so look for courses in the area of most interest to you.

As for resources, there is the Chemistry forum here, and many websites dedicated to particular areas within chemistry.

Also check out - Royal Society of Chemistry's - journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

And the American Chemical Society should have something equivalent.

Registration or membership may be required by both organizations for access to the really useful material, but students usually get a substantial discount.

Also check out Chemweb.com, which gives a good overview of different areas in chemistry.